Store-service apparatus



(No Model.)

H. EIOHBAUM.

'STORE $ERVIGE APPARATUS.

Patented May 7, 1889.

' UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFIcE.

HENRY EICHBAUM, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEWV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM S. LAMSON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

STORE-SERVICE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,576, dated May '7, 1889.

Application filed June 29, 1887. Serial No. 24:2,822. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY EICHBAUM, of Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchester and State of New, York, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Store- Service Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object I have in view is to provide simple and efficient means for arresting carriers at stations along a way and permitting the succeeding carriers, with their depending frames or bails and their attached baskets, boxes, or other receptacles, to pass these stations without interference.

A further object is to provide means for transferring the carriers from the outgoing to the returning way.

My switching or station arrangement is applicable to store-service apparatus employing gravity or any means of propelling the cars.

It consist-s of a number (two or more) of parallel tracks placed close together and mounted as a single structure forming the outgoing or returning way of the apparatus. These tracks terminate atthe respective stations, and the one or more carriers designed to stop at any particular station travel upon the track terminating at that station, the depend ing frames or bails of all the carriers hanging down on that side of the track structure on which the tracks terminate, and the frames or bails of the carriers for the longer tracks having a greater lateral extension both above and below the track structure than those of the carriers for the shorter tracks, so that the wheels can ride on the proper tracks and the frames or bails clear the side of the track structure.

To get a carrier from the way to a station and permit the passage of the succeeding carriers, many switching devices may be employed. I prefer to terminate each track in a pivoted end section which swings vertically. The carrier, when it reaches this pivoted end section, depresses it by its weight and runs down the incline formed by the depressed section to a receiving-cradle, when the depressed section is returned to a horizontal position by a suitable counter-weight, so as to permit carriers running on the other tracks of the way to pass this point.

The receiving-cradle is mounted to swing on a vertical shaft, so as to bring the carrier in position for running on the return-way. The swinging receiving-cradle may also be lowered and raised on the vertical shaft, although the pivoted end section, or a stationary extension thereof, can be long enough to bring the carrier down to a point where the receptacle can be reached.

For propelling the carriers I prefer to employ an endless traveling cord operated in the usual way; but instead of being gripped by a clamping device on each carrier the can riers will simply have forks'engaging with buttons on the traveling cord. These buttons will be placed at intervals on the cord and be backed by springs, so that they will exert a yielding pressure and will not unduly jerk the carriers in starting.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the way and one stat-ion, showing two carriers and the propelling-cord; Fig. 2, a top view of the way without carriers; Fig. 3, a cross-section of the way, on a larger scale, showing the carrier riding on the second track; Fig. 4, an elevation of swinging station-frame with carrier thereon; and Fig. 5, an end view,on a larger scale, of one of the tracks.

The way A is composed of several parallel tracks, (two or more,) which are numbered on the drawings 1 2 3, &c. These are mounted upon a suitable support, a, of wood or other material, which may extend from end to end of the way, or be composed of blocks placed at intervals. These tracks are metal strips of the desired width, which are set edgewise into the support a and present edges upward, upon which the carriers run. As an efficient 9 construction, each track may be composed of a wire, I), having a plate, 0, doubled over it and rolled, as shown in Fig. 5, the rounded edge of the resulting plate being turned upwardly to receive the wheels of the carriers. By this construction a track is formed having a round head and a thinner supporting-web, so that the tendency of the wheels to ride up on the track is reduced to the minimum. The tracks 1 2 3, &c., terminate, respectively, at too the stations to which the ways run, track 1 terminating at the first station, track 2 at the second station, and so on. Each track terminates in a pivoted end section, (1, which is pivoted by a shaft, (2, extending laterally through the track-support a, and having an arm carrying a counter-weight, f. This is adjustable on the arm, so thatit can be placed to properly overbalance the pivoted track-section and keep it normally at ,the upper limit of its movement. lVhen depressed, each pivoted section strikes at its free end the station-cradle B, which is a frame having a track, g, forming a continuation of the pivoted section and mounted to swing on a central vertical shaft, 0, and to be raised and lowered on such shaft, if desired. This cradle serves to transfer the carrier from a track on the outgoing-track structure to the corresponding track on the returning-track structure. This will necessitate the raising of the cradle on the shaft C, since the returning-way is preferably on the same plane as the outgoing-way.

It will only be necessary to make the pivoted end sections long enough to leave an opening when raised large enough to permit the baskets or carriers for other stations to pass through. This pivoted section may, when depressed, join a stationary inclined track-section. leading down to the swinging cradle. The section of track between the cradle B and the dotted line 00 in Fig. 1 may be considered such a stationary section.

The carriers D D', &c., which run on the tracks 1 9, &c., have each two wheels, h h, connected to hubs i on one side of a vertical hanging frame, E. The hubs i are made of such lengths for the different carriers that the wheels of carrier D will ride on the track 1 and bring the frame E at the proper distance from the side of the way, while the wheels of carrier D will ride 011 track 2, and so on. The frame E hangs down on one side of the way and then projects laterally under the way to bring the point at which the basket or other receptacle, F, is attached thereto beneath the wheels h h, so that the carrier will maintain a proper vertical position. For propelling the carriers, the frame E has a forked arm, 7:, projecting upwardly from it, and this fork engages one of the buttons Z on a traveling cord, G. The buttonslare placed at suitable distances apart-say at intervals of ten feet. Each button is mounted loosely on the cord, while in rear of it another button, m, is secured to the cord. Between the buttons Z on is a spiral spring, 12, which makes the button Z act with a yielding force.

What I claim is 1. In store-service apparatus, two or more tracks extending parallel throughout their length and supported close together as a single structure, such tracks being in succession from one side of the structure to the other, each of greater length than the immediately preceding track, in combination with wheeled carriers riding on the separate tracks, and having frames or bails depending on that side of the track structure on which the tracks terminate, substantially as set forth.

2. In store-service apparatus, two or more tracks extending parallel throughout their length and supported close together as a single structure, such tracks being in succession from one side of structure to the other, each of greater length than the immediately preceding track, in combination with wheeled carriers riding on the separate tracks, and having frames or bails depending on that side of the track structure on which the tracks terminate, the depending frames or bails having for the carriers of the longer tracks a greater lateral extension both above and below the track structure than for the carriers of the shorter tracks, substantially as set forth.

3. In store-service apparatus, two or more tracks extending parallel throughout their length and supported close together as a single structure,such tracks being in succession from one side of the structure to the other, each of greater length than the immediately preceding track, in combination with wheeled carriers riding on the separate tracks, and having frames or bails depending on that side of the track structure 011 which the tracks terminate, and a pivoted end section at the end of each track for transferring the carrier riding on that track to a station at that point, substantially as set forth.

4. I11 store-service apparatus, two or more tracks extending parallel throughout their length and supported close together as a single structure, such tracks being in succession from one side of the structure to the other, each of greater length than the immediately preceding track, in combination with wheeled carriers riding on the separate tracks, and having frames or bails depending on that side of the track structure on which the tracks terminate, and a counterbalanced pivoted end section at the end of each track which is depressed by the carrier and transfers the carrier riding on that track to a station at that point, and then returns to position to permit the passage of carriers for more distant stations, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this can day of June, 1887.

HENRY EIOHBAUM.

\Vitnesses:

WILLIAM PELZER, E. C. ROWLAND. 

